YOU BE THE JUDGE: Process cheese food slices must contain at least 51 percent natural cheese. Imitation cheese slices, by contrast, contain little or no natural cheese and consist primarily of water, vegetable oil, flavoring, and “fortifying agents.” Kraft, Inc., makes Kraft Singles, which are individually wrapped process cheese food slices. When Kraft began losing market share to imitation slices that were advertised as both less expensive and equally nutritious as Singles, Kraft responded with a series of advertisements informing consumers that Kraft Singles cost more than imitation slices because they are made from 5 ounces of milk. Kraft does use 5 ounces of milk in making each Kraft Single, but imitation slices contain the same amount of calcium as Kraft Singles. Argument for Kraft: This statement is completely true—Kraft does use 5 ounces of milk in each Kraft Single. The FTC is assuming that the only value of milk is the calcium. In fact, people might prefer having milk rather than vegetable oil, regardless of the calcium. Argument for the FTC: It is deceptive to advertise more milk if the calcium is the same after all the processing. Are the Kraft advertisements deceptive? How would you rule and why?

Question

YOU BE THE JUDGE: Process cheese food slices must contain at least 51 percent natural cheese. Imitation cheese slices, by contrast, contain little or no natural cheese and consist primarily of water, vegetable oil, flavoring, and “fortifying agents.” Kraft, Inc., makes Kraft Singles, which are individually wrapped process cheese food slices. When Kraft began losing market share to imitation slices that were advertised as both less expensive and equally nutritious as Singles, Kraft responded with a series of advertisements informing consumers that Kraft Singles cost more than imitation slices because they are made from 5 ounces of milk. Kraft does use 5 ounces of milk in making each Kraft Single, but imitation slices contain the same amount of calcium as Kraft Singles.

Argument for Kraft: This statement is completely true—Kraft does use 5 ounces of milk in each Kraft Single. The FTC is assuming that the only value of milk is the calcium. In fact, people might prefer having milk rather than vegetable oil, regardless of the calcium.

Argument for the FTC: It is deceptive to advertise more milk if the calcium is the same after all the processing.

Are the Kraft advertisements deceptive? How would you rule and why?